What Jesus taught has been mistranslated and misinterpreted for centuries by sectarian institutions and their teachers. Here the verses of Jesus teachings from the Book of Luke are quoted and discussed. The New International Version is used unless otherwise noted.

"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you." (Luke 17:6)

The point is not to become powerful

Many have quoted this statement and misinterpreted it as Jesus suggesting that people use God to achieve their goals of becoming powerful.

It would be easy for those who want to be master to focus upon the single phrase within Jesus' statement - "it will obey you."

And some are enchanted by the promise of having trees - or mountains, as described from his statements elsewhere - obey us:

“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them." (Mark 11:23)

Certainly, those who want to move mountains or have trees obey them will be drawn by these statements. In other words, those of us who want to be king will like these words. Those of us who want to be in control will be attracted by these statements. Those of us who want to be on top will grab onto these statements, as many fanatical sectarians have - as they scold us about not having enough faith.

Wanting others and things to obey us is, in fact, our disease. This is what landed us in the physical world, away from the Supreme Being in the first place.

We were tossed out of the spiritual world

Yes, we got thrown out of the spiritual realm - the realm where the Supreme Being is the center and everyone loves Him. Why did we get tossed out? Because we wanted to the center. We wanted everyone to love us. We wanted to be king. We wanted everyone to obey us.

This is what the symbolism of Adam and Eve and the fruit of the tree was all about. The 'fruit' that God didn't want us to eat is the 'fruit' of self-centeredness. The 'fruit' that we are the center and everyone and everything revolves around us - the fruit of wanting to be like God. Here is how the 'snake' described it:

To "be like God" means to become self-centered and believe that everything revolves around me. You see, in our pure state, we are God's servants and caregivers. In our pure state, we see ourselves as we are - as revolving around God. In our pure state, we love the Supreme Being who is our Best Friend and Eternal Companion.

But because love always requires freedom of choice (without it, there could be no real love), we are given the choice to love God or not to love God. This is why it is described in Genesis that in Eden there were two trees in the middle of the garden:

Thus we find two trees in the center of the Garden of Eden (the spiritual realm): What are these? The "tree of life" represents love for the Supreme Being. This is what gives life to God's children. The other - "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" - represents our choice to become self-centered.

Once we fall out of love with God by becoming self-centered - we now must face the consequences of our self-centeredness.

This is why, as soon as they ate the fruit, Adam and Eve were suddenly self-conscious about being naked: They immediately became self-centered. After all, unless one is self-centered, one cannot become self-conscious.

Their nakedness in Genesis symbolized their purity.

They were pure, but as soon as they ate the fruit of self-centeredness, they needed to cover up their nakedness. Consider this carefully: Due to their becoming self-centered, their purity (symbolized by nakedness) became a problem. They had to cover up.

What are the "garments of skin"? The "garments of skin" are most certainly our physical bodies. Are our physical bodies not garments of skin?

They are "garments" because they cover us - the spirit-person. And they are "skin" because our bodies are most certainly are covered in skin.

Yes, our physical bodies cover the pureness of our spirit-person within. By giving us these physical bodies, we are thus tossed out of the spiritual realm and immersed in the physical world. It might be compared to an astronaut who puts on a spacesuit in order to enter outer space.

This last sentence has been slightly mistranslated - as has been much of the text in the Book of Genesis. What is being communicated is that God banished us from the spiritual realm by giving us physical bodies - made of the elements of the physical world - and thus we must now struggle within the physical world in these physical bodies.

The point is, this is why we are each here in the physical world. It is not as if Adam and Eve made a mistake ("original sin") and now we all have to pay for the choice they made. This is the presumption of sectarian teachers who don't want to admit that each of us is responsible for the choices we make and have made. Adam and Eve merely symbolize the choice each of us wearing a physical body has made.

Each of us made the choice not to love God at some point. Each of us made the choice to 'eat the fruit' of self-centeredness. And this is why we are here: Because we wanted to forget God and enjoy ourselves. We wanted to be like God.

In the physical realm, this translates to each of us struggling to gain control. Here we struggle to become number one - at least in something. We fight each other for property (that God ultimately owns) and we fight each other for wealth, fame and control.

Yet no one wins this fight for control. We all lose. Billions of people are fighting each other for property, fame, wealth and control - yet no one wins.

Even those who gain the position of king or president or Olympic champion or famous movie star or rock star will lose those positions. We will lose whatever position we gain as soon as someone else knocks us off the podium.

Or when we leave these bodies behind at the time of death.

And every one of us will leave this body behind at some point. When that happens whatever position, riches, fame, family or reputation we may have made at that point will be taken from us all at once. It will vanish from our grasp as our spirit-person leaves behind the temporary physical body. This, in fact, is what Jesus spoke about when he discussed the supposed "end of the world." (Such as: "So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just -" (Matt. 13:49 KJV))

The Greek word αἰών (aiōn) has been translated to "world" or in some Biblical versions, to "age." Yet this word means, according to the lexicon, "a period of time." What "period of time" is Jesus speaking of? Jesus is speaking of the end of the lifetime of this physical body:

Yes, the end of the lifetime of this body will be a day of reckoning for each of us. This is the point where we each leave ("rise from") our physical body. This is "judgment day" - because this is when our lives will be judged, and we will head to our next destination.

So why does Jesus make this above statement about moving the tree - or the mountain? What point is he trying to make with regard to having faith?

First, this statement is being made specifically to Jesus' disciples. These are those who are being sent out by Jesus to teach to others and heal others just as Jesus had:

Thus we find that the power that Jesus displayed - with regard to healing others and casting out demons and so forth - was a display of God's power. Jesus was a medium for that power.

And how does one become a medium for God's power? Just as Jesus is instructing here - by becoming completely dependent upon God - by devoting oneself to God.

What does 'having faith' mean?

One might think this is simply believing that God exists. Some institutions teach it simply means believing that Jesus exists.

Yet neither of these are what Jesus is speaking of when he says "faith." Most everyone around Jesus at the time believed in God's existence, and certainly, they all believed in Jesus' existence because he was standing in front of them.

In fact, the word "faith" here is being translated from the Greek word πίστις (pistis). This actually means, according to Thayer's lexicon, "belief with the predominate idea of trust or confidence."

So having faith doesn't mean just believing in the existence of God. It means to rely upon God. It means to put oneself in the hands of God. It means to completely depend upon God. This is the faith that Jesus is discussing.

So having this type of faith is quite the opposite of wanting to move a mountain or a tree - or have anything or anyone else obey us. It is about completely relying upon the Supreme Being. And it is about doing what pleases God.

This results in precisely the opposite consciousness of wanting others to obey us. It means to be obeying the Supreme Being and trusting in Him completely. It means forgetting about what others think of us or how we can prove our self-worth to others by doing something great.

When we are trusting in Him and obeying the Supreme Being by doing what pleases Him - things will automatically happen that will appear to be fantastic to others. But they won't seem fantastic to us. Because we know God will be doing those things - not us.